AFL-CIO Weighs Mandatory Assessment

LEIGH STROPE

Published 8:00 pm, Wednesday, February 20, 2002

AP Labor Writer

The AFL-CIO traditionally has asked member unions for voluntary contributions to pay for political campaign activities. Now a move is building in the federation to make assessments permanent and mandatory.

The AFL-CIO is far short of the $35 million it wants to spend in this two-year cycle, and union officials decide next week how to make up the difference in an election year with control of Congress at stake.

"The bottom line is there's going to be a political program at the same level as I'm sure we've had other years," said Steve Rosenthal, the AFL-CIO's political director.

Campaign finance legislation nearing passage in Congress includes some spending and coordination constraints on unions, corporations and special-interest groups, but the changes probably won't apply to this year's elections. Republicans have pushed unsuccessfully for tougher restrictions on unions' political fund raising and spending, including obtaining members' consent to spend dues money on politics.

"This is further evidence that unions are likely to be strengthened under" the campaign finance legislation in Congress, said Bill Miller, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's political director.

Labor unions tend to be big backers of Democrats, who cling to a one-seat majority in the Senate and are a handful of seats away from controlling the House. Thirty-six governorships also are up for election in November.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney will offer the federation's executive council a new budget next week "that will shift resources into our priority programs while reducing staff and other expenses," he said in a letter to the council. Those priorities are politics and organizing.

The AFL-CIO has identified about half of the $35 million it wants to budget for the two-year cycle. Labor leaders must decide how to make up the shortfall.

In the past, the AFL-CIO has asked for voluntary assessments, such as $1 per member per month for two years in the last election cycle, to raise money for issue ads, get-out-the-vote efforts and member education. But some unions complained that they carried the financial weight while others refused to contribute.

A mandatory special assessment charged per member per union is being considered to help permanently fund the federation's political program. But that idea is deepening an already divided labor movement.

The money ultimately would be spent to support Democrats _ and that angers several unions that have made inroads with Republicans and the Bush administration.

Despite the $100 million to $130 million spent by unions in the past three election cycles, Republicans would have complete control if it wasn't for Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords, who became an independent last year, said Mike Mathis, government affairs director for the Teamsters, which works both sides of the aisle.

"So I question the wisdom of this all-Democrats-all-the-time strategy," Mathis said.

Teamsters President James P. Hoffa was a guest of honor at President Bush's State of the Union speech. A few weeks earlier, Bush had visited Teamsters headquarters.

Gerald McEntee, the AFL-CIO's political chairman, acknowledged that the labor split creates problems. He said it was critical that all 66 affiliate unions be involved in a political effort.

"Maybe we step back from the federation's political program," said McEntee, who also is president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

"There are ways to deal with it," such as encouraging union members to seek office and contributing to those campaigns, he said.

Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, the largest in the federation, agreed.

"The AFL has to accentuate _ which I think they've done much better at _ that they are interested in issues," Stern said. "But I think there are a lot of people that would still like us to be an adjunct to the Democratic Party."